MORGANTOWN — The American Federation of Teachers – West Virginia plans to sue the state regarding the charter schools provision of HB 206, the omnibus education bill passed and signed into law during the summer special legislative session.
AFT-WV President Fred Albert said on Thursday the union planned to submit its letter of intent to sue no later than Friday. It’s basing its suit on its view that a charter school would be an independent free school district.
The state Constitution says, “No independent free school district, or organization shall hereafter be created, except with the consent of the school district or districts out of which the same is to be created, expressed by a majority of the voters voting on the question.”
“As we read it the Constitution does require a referendum,” he said. Residents should be able to have their voices heard before a charter school is launched. “We felt like the citizens spoke last spring during all the round tables held across the state,” and they said charter schools are not a good fit. “Their voices were ignored.”
The union’s view will challenge the view of the legislators who voted for it – as expressed in HB 206 and the state school board Policy 3300 released Wednesday (and soon to go out for public comment) that charter schools are part of the public school system.
Policy 3300 spells out that a charter school may be authorized only by a county school board, or by a combination of boards where the school’s recruitment area cross county lines, or by the state board if the local board is under state control.
The school may be organized by any combination of parents/guardians, community members, teachers or school administrators, or by a higher education institution – conditioned on obtaining tax-exempt status.
The so-called 3-3-3 Amendment to HB 206 shortly before passage limits charters to three pilots until July 1, 2023, with regular reports to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability, and starting July 1, 2023, allowing authorization of an additional three charters every three years.
An 11-page overview of the proposed 47-page policy notes that the first charter school could open no sooner than the 20121-22 school year. Charters schools will operate under contracts with local school boards, “which retain significant authority over charter schools.”
Charter schools, the overview says, will “run with increased autonomy from some local and state laws and policies that apply to non-charter public schools.”
Albert said that along with the public lack of enthusiasm for charter schools, AFT-WV believes that charters will siphon off money from the other public schools. “We feel like we need to fully fund the public schools.” Public funding for them is actually lower than before the recession of 2008.
The state’s other teacher union, West Virginia Education Association, announced in July it was going to file suit over HB 206, but has taken no action to date.
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